dation for his good services. Being promoted brigadier, he was appointed inspector of the army of Peru and intendant of the department of Trujillo. When Gen. San Martin landed in Peru, Torre-Tagle was the first Peruvian officer to hoist the national flag in the north, and on 24 Dec., 1820, proclaimed independence in Trujillo. On 26 July, 1822, he was appointed provisional president by San Martin when the latter went to meet Bolivar in Guayaquil. After the departure of San Martin for Chili, on 20 Sept., Torre-Tagle was elected member of the triumvirate under La Mar. In January, 1823, congress appointed him president; but a military mutiny deposed him and proclaimed Riva Agüero on 28 Feb. After the deposition of the latter and his retreat to Trujillo, Torre-Tagle was appointed president by Sucre on 20 July, and elected by congress on 16 Aug., and Bolivar, who on his arrival, 1 Sept., had been proclaimed dictator, left him in charge of the government. When the garrison of Callao revolted, 5 Feb., 1824, for arrears of pay, and, Torre-Tagle failing to provide the necessary means, pronounced for Spain, Bolivar sent Gen. Necochea to arrest him, and congress deposed him on 10 Feb. Fearing to be shot by order of a court-martial, he fled to Callao, where the rebels kept him a prisoner, and on the reoccupation of Lima by the Spaniards, he was offered the place as governor of the capital, but declined, preferring to remain a prisoner of war. After the beginning of the siege of Callao, he tried several times to be admitted on board the blockading Chilian fleet, but Admiral Blanco Encalada refused to receive him except as a prisoner, and he perished with his whole family by the disease that was caused by the famine due to the protracted siege. Although he was not a traitor to his country, as charged by his enemies, he caused great misfortunes by his want of energy and vacillating policy.
TORREY, Bradford, essayist, b. in Weymouth,
Mass., 9 Oct., 1843. He was educated in the public
schools of his native town, taught for two years,
and subsequently engaged in business in Boston.
Since 1886 he has been an assistant editor of the
“Youth's Companion,” and a frequent contributor
to periodicals. Mr. Torrey has devoted much time
to the study of birds, their habits, peculiarities, and
domestic traits. He has written numerous papers
on this subject, and published “Birds in the Bush”
(Boston, 1885).
TORREY, Charles Turner, reformer, b. in
Scituate, Mass., in 1813; d. in Baltimore, Md., 9
May, 1846. His ancestor, James, was an early
settler of Scituate. (See Torrey, William.) Charles
was graduated at Yale in 1830, studied theology,
and occupied Congregational pastorates in Princeton,
N. J., and Salem, Mass., but soon relinquished
his professional duties to devote himself to
anti-slavery labors in Maryland. In 1843 he attended a
slaveholders' convention in Baltimore, reported its
proceedings, and was arrested and put in jail. In
1844, having been detected in his attempt to aid in
the escape of several slaves, he was tried, convicted,
and sentenced to a long imprisonment in the state
penitentiary, where he died of consumption that
was brought on by ill usage. His body was taken
to Boston, and his funeral attended from Tremont
temple by an immense concourse of people. The
story of his sufferings and death excited eager
interest both in this country and in Europe, and
“Torrey's blood crieth out” became a watch-word
of the Abolition party, giving new impetus to the
anti-slavery cause. He published a “Memoir of
William R. Saxton” (Boston, 1838), and “Home,
or the Pilgrim's Faith Revived,” a volume of
sketches of life in Massachusetts, which he
prepared in prison (1846). See “Memoir of the Martyr
Torrey” (1847).
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TORREY, John, botanist, b. in New York city, 15 Aug., 1796; d. there, 10 March, 1873. His father, Capt. William Torrey, served during the Revolutionary war. The son received his early education in public schools in New York city. In his youth he showed a fondness for mechanics, and at one time determined to become a machinist, but, coming under the influence of Amos Eaton, he was taught the structure of flowers with the rudiments of botany, and a knowledge of mineralogy and chemistry. In 1815 he began the study of medicine with Dr. Wright Post, and was graduated at the College of physicians and surgeons. He opened an office in New York city, and engaged in the practice of medicine, at the same time devoting his leisure to botany and other scientific pursuits. The medical profession was not congenial to him, and on 5 Aug., 1824, he entered the U. S. army as assistant surgeon, serving at the U. S. military academy as acting professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology until his resignation, 31 Aug., 1828. In 1827 he was chosen professor of chemistry and botany in the College of physicians and surgeons in New York city, and he continued in that place until 1855, when he was made professor emeritus. He was also professor of chemistry at Princeton in 1830-'54, and of chemistry, mineralogy, and botany at the University of the city of New York in 1832-'3. In 1853, on the establishment of the U. S. assay-office in New York city, Dr. Torrey was appointed assayer, which office he continued to fill until his death. He was frequently consulted by the treasury department on matters pertaining to the coinage and currency, and was sent on special missions at various times to visit the different mints. In 1856 he was chosen a trustee of Columbia, and in 1860, having presented the college with his herbarium, numbering about 50,000 specimens, he was made emeritus professor of chemistry and botany. On the consolidation of the College of physicians and surgeons with Columbia in 1860, he was chosen one of its trustees, and his emeritus professorships continued. His advice was frequently sought on scientific subjects by various corporations. Dr. Torrey's earliest publications in the “American Journal of Science” treat of mineralogy. In 1817 he became one of the founders of the New York lyceum of natural history (now the New York academy of science), and one of his first contributions to this body is a “Catalogue of Plants growing spontaneously within Thirty Miles of the City of New York” (Albany, 1819). Its publication gained for him the recognition of foreign and native botanists. He undertook in 1820 the examination of the plants that had been collected around the head-waters of the Mississippi by Prof. David B. Douglass, and during the same year the collections made
